I liked how today went. I did a load of laundry in our new washing machine and gave succulent cuttings homes. The Husband and I packaged and mailed persimmons to friends and cousins, got Chinese takeout, and went to an exercise class that focuses on balance for old people.  At the post office, I  talked with a happy guy who was there to get his passport in order because he was moving to Italy. He had sold his business and his home to live in a house he inherited that he didn’t know existed until an attorney got hold of him to ask if he’d like the house. The happy guy gladly said “Yes” before even hearing where it was. The house belonged to his grandfather or great grandfather and somewhere down the line family stopped living  in it. Now the house was his. So very cool!  The best news today came from the happy nurse at my doctor’s office. The results of my chest x-ray were negative, which (after she told me that was a good thing) I took to mean my lungs were clean, intact, and in pla

Monday, Monday. What scintillating things did I do today?  A pearl choker wrapped around a wooded bracelet…voilà, a Christmas ornament in the making. The Husband and I moseyed down to the hardware store to purchase a package of packing tape, one six-outlet power strip, one surge protector, a bag of cactus and succulent soil, and a bag of orchid potting mix. When did the employees get so young? Even 30 year olds look like babies to me.  I finally read the operating instructions for our new washing machine. Nothing fancy, nothing smart. Simply turn dials, press button, and walk away knowing the machine will do its job correctly just like the old machine had for 18 years. With good fortune, this new machine will last for my forever. How was your Monday? 

The Husband and I are saying today that tomorrow morning we will drive to a big box hardware store in the next town to purchase a washing machine. Ours no longer wrings out all the water from the clothes. After years of having a washer, we’re too spoiled to go back to lugging laundry to a laundromat. I’m 99.998% sure that we will actually buy a washing machine tomorrow, as well as stop by the post office, the bank, the tax collector’s office, and the library in town. We were going to do all that today, but I nixed that idea when I got inspired to work on a bunch of different projects in the yard, L Studio, and the upcoming yard sale.  So, did I work on any of those projects?  I finally moved boxes, which I put off for months, from the shed to the garage. I had to ask the Husband to come outside and be near the shed when I go in it. Just in case, I told him, a mouse lives in the shed. Shudder. It would probably be more like a rat but I don’t want to consider that. Nope. The Husband said

For  Art for Fun Friday : Acrylics on tiny canvas (turned into a magnet) This week I’m sharing with  Thursday 13 ,  I Like Thursday ,  Art for Fun Friday ,  and  Friday Writings .  For  Thursday 13 and Friday Writings (prompt: ordinary) ( 1) Where oh where are my red reading glasses? (2) What oh what do I make for our main meal? (3) I’ll vacuum tomorrow. Maybe. (4) Dear Diary, says the Husband as he passes by me clickity clacking on the iPad. (5) What shall I do today? (6) I’m doing a load of bottoms. Do you want your jeans washed?  (7) Have you been drinking water? asks the Husband. (8) It’s garbage day. (9) Mail call! (10) Sniff, sniff, achooo. . . Really need to dust. (11) Jazz, rock, swing, tropical, what shall we listen to? (12) Going outside. (13) Kiss, kiss. I love you. Night-night. For  Art for Fun Friday : Acrylics on canvas For  I Like Thursday:   Mama’s Gravy LeeAnna, host of I Like Thursday , asks participants to share a Thanksgiving recipe that we love. If I could, I’d s

(1) Let’s see, today, for our main meal the Husband and I ate a melange of five left over dishes from the last two days, or three. Or, four. Garbanzo butternut soup, couscous with chimichurri sauce, sauteed onion and squash, ground turkey   burgers, and roasted red and green peppers. The flavors blended quite well together, surprisingly and with great relief. We ate our portions all up. No leftovers, hurrah! (2) To go along with our meal I concocted an ooh-la-la drink. Passion fruit juice with a jigger of rum. Ooh la la! (3) The Husband and I toasted to the last day of our 25th year of marriage. Tomorrow: Hello 26th!  Clink, clink.   (4) Maybe next year we will be dancing with our friends and family to celebrate our 27th anniversary. I also would like us to throw a party for the septuagenarians among us. We shall see. (5) The last two weeks I’ve been working on my entries for the county fair. That’s some of the craft entries in the photo above.  (6) Yep, that’s a juicer. Good friend L.

1. The Husband and I successfully fulfilled our monthly date for vacuuming, dusting, and mopping the house. Three months in a row. Definitely a whoop-de-doo! for us. The carpet feels so good beneath our bare feet. 2. Here's another thing I'm proud about doing today. I successfully pulled a curly dock weed, more than 60 inches tall, from the middle of a young butterfly bush. Poor guy. The two plants' roots were stuck together, but not entwined, so I was able to pry them apart. Hopefully the young butterfly bush was not too traumatized. 3. I need to go out and check the seeds I planted last week. They may need a drink of water. 4. But, first I need to go cook our main meal for us. I do miss not cooking. 5. Here I am again. The seeds got their sips of water. I saw two sunflower sprouts. Yippieeee. 6. After marinating locally produced grass-fed beef stew in a concoction of spices, vinegar, oil, and whatever else for a few hours, I sliced the meat thinly a

I felt like an old lady as I climbed the stairs a few hours ago. Old lady, pooped, that is, because of my busy morning playing in the yard, starting with a new plant called Kangaroo Paw. Don't you just love that name, Kangaroo Paw? The Husband and I bought it yesterday, along with Jupiter's Beard, Sedum Album, and Wonga-Wonga Vine. Don't those names simply appeal to your silliness?  Jupiter's Beard. Kangaroo Paw. Sedum Album. Wonga-Wonga Vine.  They ought to be featured in a poem or song. Anyone want to try? I'm being distracted by what's coming out of the Husband's computer: the King Earl Boogie Band performing "... I've got my Plastic Jesus riding on the dashboard of my car..."  The Mama kept a plastic Jesus-on-the cross on Eliza Do-alot's dashboard, which we think still rests in Eliza's glove compartment. Drats. Where was I? We're supposed to have a few more days of rain, starting tomorrow, which is why I spent the mo

Today I'm playing hooky. Yes, I'm retired, but even retired people need to play hooky from everyday routines. For me that has meant, so far, sleeping in until 10 a.m. (I don't recall the last time I did that when I wasn't sick.) and watching TV while I ate my breakfast of black coffee and Brie slapped between two slices of sourdough bread. The Husband eventually moseyed over to the living room with his second cup of coffee and plopped on the couch. He was content with me clicking the remote. We ended up watching Kitty Lynne Klich paint her interpretation of a photograph of an Italian scene. I thought it fascinating how she mixed colors and applied light and dark hues to get what she wanted. At some point of watching Kitty, Molly the Cat sashayed by. She looked perplexed. Why were we sitting in the living room in the morning? Why is the TV on? Why is Missus Lady sitting in Hero Man's seat and Hero Man is hers?  Is that Brie I smell on your breath Missus Lady

Life is good. Yesterday my retirement check got deposited and our health insurance and car insurance premiums got paid. Today we went to Costco and splurged on beer, potato chips, pesto sauce, potstickers, toilet paper, and Brita filters. Oh my goodness, we even bought a carpet runner for the hallway. Am I being sarcastic? Facetious? I don't know anymore. The Husband and I are now in the category of retired seniors on limited income, so buying groceries at Costco today felt like a luxury. Going home, I found myself justifying the purchases by figuring how much we saved by buying in bulk.   Going through life with the responsible happy-a-go-lucky Husband makes living less scary. I truly believe him when I ask him to tell me "Everything will be all right." The Husband thinks that people ought to eat well because it helps maintain good health. Why should we deprive ourselves of good health, regardless of our income, right? Yup. Life is good. At the moment the Husb

My Alphabe Thursday theme: Places I've Been The Husband and I drove over to the coast this afternoon to buy food for Molly the Cat. It was something neither of us wanted to do, but Molly ate her last can of food this morning. Yes, we have a very particular cat. She would rather go hungry then eat something that doesn't taste or smell good to her. But, Molly the Cat is not the story today. The clouds are the story. They were swimming, running, tumbling, dancing, and singing across the perfect blue sky. You see, it rained last night. Hallelujah! It rained throughout the night. Whooo-hooo! And it rained some this morning. Yippee!   All that wonderful rain left us with clear blue skies and whipped-cream like clouds. And, because the Husband was driving, I took photos. I was good at first, sitting primly (I heard that snort of a laugh) in my seat shooting photos through the passenger window and the windshield.  Before I knew it, I was leaning out the window.

Molly the Cat is about to run out of food. That means we need to drive over to the coast today. Yay! It'll be a bit cooler. We've had two days of 100+ temperatures. Today is supposed to be the same. The weather guys say we may have a thunderstorm this weekend, possibly without the rain. Since we're over there, we'll also go on a quest for grass-fed beef liver for the Mama. Her doctor has been monitoring her blood count for the last few months. Yesterday, he finally got worried and has referred her to a blood specialist, which got Mama wanting to eat liver. She's willing to eat beef liver from any market. Not anymore for me. If we have time, I would like to stop at a Goodwill or another thrift shop to check out old, funky jewelry. I haven't found the beads I want for my county-fair bracelet entry. What kind of beads, the Husband asks? I shall know when I see them. Off we go!

Recently, Birgit of BB Creations honored me with the Inspiring Blog Award. Thank you, Birgit, I appreciate it very much. The award came with a request that I write about three things that have inspired me this past few weeks. As usual, I started by pulling out the dictionary. Inspire -- To rouse/motivate/encourage/influence/incite someone to do or feel something. In particular, to do some kind of creative thing. Highly incited to clean the bedroom Being bit two nights in a row, and having those bug bites swell and itch to no end, inspired me to find the source and do something about it. Poor Molly the Cat was brushed and combed several times throughout the day. Then I decided to look under our bed since I was being bit on my feet. Horror! Carpet beetles were feasting on a blanket that once belonged to the Husband's parents, which we had tucked under the bed last summer. Out came the vacuum cleaner again! I got down on my stomach and back to vacuum and ended up with a

I had completed a post for today several days ago. It featured a photo that I hooked up to a photo meme. Then I decided to hook up a photo on my other blog -- Take 25 to Hollister -- to the same meme. So, off came the finished post for this blog. You'll see it later this week. Certainly, I could've posted both, but I didn't want to think about how to handle my visits to bloggers participating in the meme. Should I comment under one blog or both? If done individually, which blogs should I visit as The View from the Top of the Ladder and as Take 25 to Hollister . I just make things more complicated than they need be. Seeking Oompah My goal for 2015 is finding my creative groove again. That is why I'm rambling on the blog today rather than seeing if there are any Modern Family  reruns on TV. Posting on my blogs daily is part of the plan to finding my creative groove, mojo, hoodoo, voodoo, fancy, desire, and plain old oompah.  Of course, once I do my thing for toda

Molly the Cat's and my pre-breakfast routine is to fill the bird feeder in the front yard. We do that for the Mama, who worries that the wild birds can't find anything to eat, especially in the winter. I think Molly likes this routine as much as I do. It feels great breathing in the crisp, cool air while the early morning sunlight bathes our bodies.  I'm usually the second one up in the household. Every so often, I'm the first. Molly is no where to be seen until I've opened the kitchen curtains. Voila! The sleepy-eyed cat is sitting before me. Yawning. And, as I take a step towards her, she stretches in all her glory. "Shall we go outside?" I ask, turning the locks to the front door. Molly pads over. When I open the screen door, she rushes out to the sound of birds flapping out of the yard. Not to worry, Molly's meow is worse than her bite. She likes to watch birds and occasionally chase them. But, that's it. She caught a bird once, and ha